An independent observer of the Forest Stewartship Council

The following has been submitted by the Irish Environmental and Social Stakeholders.

THE BEGINNINGS OF PLANTATION FORESTRY IN IRELAND

In the 1930s the now famous Irish plant collector Augustine Henry
brought the Sitka Spruce to Ireland and over time it became the basis
of a virtual 100% blanket monoculture in the Irish landscape - totally
alien to the natural habitats of Oak, Ash, Rowan, Willow, etc. Being an alien species, plucked from its North American environment, planted in vast areas and susceptible to attack from the pine weevil, vast quantities of pesticides were used and are still used...[Continue]

Of course, as FSC's Alison Kriscenski pointed out to Pearce, "FSC certification is not a guarantee that a forest is carbon neutral, and people should not use it to claim that." But that apparently doesn't stop Suzano from making precisely that claim...[Continue]

This article from this month's World Rainforest Movement bulletin illustrates that the problems with FSC-certification of industrial tree plantations are far from resolved.

The most common response to criticisms of FSC is that a review is currently under way, with a promise that the critique will be taken into account. This is the case with FSC certification of industrial tree plantations. In fact, FSC's review of its plantations policy started in 2004 (after a motion was passed at FSC's 2002 General Assembly)...[Continue]

FSC-Watch has received this announcement of the establishment of a new organisation which aims to fight the destruction of Sweden's forests, and to challenge the greenwashing of this destruction by the FSC.

We have received the following from 'Alert against the Green Desert Network' in Brazil, reporting on the Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST) continuing occupation of part of the illegal (but FSC certified) plantations owened by Veracel. As we previously reported, the Veracel certification has been highly controversial; despite FSC itself finding that the certificate showed "a number of nonconformities with FSC accreditation requirements", the certificate still remains in place and SGS Qualifor, which was responsible for issuing it, remains accredited by FSC...[Continue]

Another long-standing European NGO member of FSC has announced its intention to withdraw its membership of the organisation in protest at what it sees as FSC's failure to prevent the certification of non-compliant companies. The Hamburg-based Robin Wood has been a member of FSC for 12 years. The group says in a statement issued on March 16th that it will continue working with the German national FSC group, but will end cooperation with FSC international. As with a growing number of NGOs, Robin Wood acknowledges that FSC is 'the most credible' forest certification system - but seemingly no longer credible enough to be associated with...[Continue]

FSC is coming in for some serious criticism in Massachusetts. Earlier this month, Massachusetts Forest Watch produced a 50-page report detailing the damage that logging is doing to State forests.

Subsequently, the Boston Channel's Team 5 Investigates produced a video explaining how the state Department of Conservation and Recreation, which is supposed to protect forests, is actually cutting them down. Click on the image below to watch the video: